Almost Spring

I was a bit afraid it'd be too cold to run out to the barn but at 32F it was pretty nice so I was glad I went for it. Cody, escorted by Kiko and followed by Papillon, came up to the paddock to see what kind of nonsense I was up to when I arrived. Since it had been so warm the past weekend and then froze up again, everything had a nice crust of ice on it, so riding was out for the evening. But no worries because we're far from not needing more ground work. Cody wasn't terribly pleased that I brought him into the barn without his buddies but he was very manageable. He's shedding pretty good already so the shedding blade will be my choice of grooming tool for a while. He still fidgets while tied in the barn but it was pretty mellow fidgeting at least. I set up 3 barrels in the corner of the barn with the plan to lunge him into the tight space (squeeze game if you will). Cody has really picked up the lunging and will turn when I ask and mostly stop when I ask. He's not quite as good as going from trot to walk, he'd rather trot most of the time but he knows what I'm asking. He's still not too great at just standing. I ask for a halt and he creeps. So I back him up. Then he creeps forward. Rinse and repeat. This time I backed him into the space between the barrels and barn wall and then continued to get him to turn 90 degrees while going backward. He was a little unsure of my request and bumped his butt on the wall but remained calm and figured out what I was asking. This is a really great lesson for him, that even if he bumps something I'm not leading him into a den of lions or anything. He is looking pretty good with his weight as well. Hard to completely tell with the fuzzy winter coat still but it looks like he's been packing on a few pounds. It will be nice to see him all rounded out when he sheds this spring. As usual he backed out of the barn door like a champ and was rewarded with dinner.

I waited for everyone to be fed before I worked Axel. He was not happy with me when I removed his nylon halter to put on the rope halter instead of letting him go eat hay with his herd mates. But once we got over that fight he followed me into the barn happily. The goal for Axel last night was to teach him to lunge. He's been ground driven and long lined but we've never really just lunged him like we do with Cody. He doesn't quite pick up on things as fast as Cody and he's never going to be the obedient "yes man" that Cody is turning out to be. But he did start to catch on to the lunging after a few minutes. I used a whip with him to keep him moving as I didn't think swinging the rope end would really faze him, a tap was a bit more effective. He was very unhappy to trot on the lunge and started off pretty lame and flung his head and tried to buck. I think his pain is manageable with more exercise and slower warm up periods. Unfortunately as I was lunging him I noticed he had a massive lump on his belly on the left side. My initial reaction was that was the reason he was so cranky at the trot. But in reality I think he just got kicked in the pasture and it was just a big bruise. I pressed on it a bit and he didn't really react, I didn't feel like getting kicked myself so I didn't press my luck (no pun intended). I probably shouldn't have stopped working him but he had done better than I expected up to that point so it probably wasn't a bad place to stop anyway. I did end with backing him up just in the barn on the flat ground. He backed pretty quickly even. We're going to move up to backing between the barrels, then the big barn door with decreasing width, then finally through the little barn door. Axel doesn't back out of the trailer so this is a good lesson for him but after last week when he would not back out of the little door we had to rethink our strategy.

Since daylight saving time ends earlier this year (or starts, I always forget), next week it'll be lighter even later so now we'll be able to get back to more riding and schooling type stuff as long as the ice melts! You can't even open the round pen gate right now, the snow drifted over it and then froze so it's hard as a rock. I'm looking forward to some trail rides this spring.